U.S./World category, Page 600
Fewer Americans file for jobless aid
WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans applied for jobless benefits last week as the U.S. job market remains robust despite four-decade high inflation and a myriad of other economic pressures. Applications for jobless aid for the week ending June 18 fell to 229,000, a decline of 2,000 from the previous week, the...
Feds: Ghislaine Maxwell deserves at least 30 years in prison
NEW YORK — British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell should spend at least 30 years in prison for her role in the sexual abuse of teenage girls over a 10-year period by her onetime boyfriend, financier Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors said Wednesday in written arguments. Prosecutors said she should serve between 30 years...
Reports: Multiple people killed in helicopter crash in West Virginia
LOGAN, W.Va. — Multiple people were killed when a helicopter crashed Wednesday in West Virginia, according to news outlets. The identities were not confirmed, but Ray Bryant, chief of operations for Logan Emergency Management, told WSAZ-TV they were not local residents. The helicopter was based at the Logan airport and...
Uvalde school police Chief Pete Arredondo on leave after mass shooting
UVALDE, Texas — The Uvalde school district’s police chief was put on leave Wednesday following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell said that he put...
Former West Virginia lawmaker gets 3 months in Jan. 6 riot
A former West Virginia lawmaker who livestreamed himself on Facebook storming the U.S. Capitol and cheering on what he described as a “revolution” was sentenced Wednesday to three months in prison. Derrick Evans, 37, who pleaded guilty to a felony civil disorder charge, told the judge that he regrets his...
Murder conviction overturned in Georgia hot car death caseVideo
ATLANTA — Georgia’s highest court on Wednesday overturned the murder and child cruelty convictions against a man whose toddler son died after he left him in a hot car for hours, saying the jury saw evidence that was “extremely and unfairly prejudicial.” Justin Ross Harris, 41, was convicted in November...
‘Blue slip’ problem hangs up veterans toxic exposure bill
WASHINGTON — A Senate-passed bill to expand health care and disability benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits or other toxic substances during their service has run into a constitutional objection from the House. The bill, which would make it easier for veterans to access benefits by presuming that certain...
From ‘carp’ to ‘copi’: unpopular fish getting a makeover
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — You’re in the mood for fish and your server suggests a dish of invasive carp. Ugh, you might say. But how about broiled copi, fresh from the Mississippi River? Here’s the catch: They’re the same thing. Illinois and partner organizations kicked off a market-tested campaign Wednesday...
San Francisco subway train shooting kills 1, wounds another
SAN FRANCISCO — One person was killed and another was wounded in a shooting on a crowded subway train in San Francisco Wednesday, a city supervisor said. Supervisor Myrna Melgar said San Francisco police informed her that the shooting happened around 10 a.m. on a San Francisco Muni train between...
Ginni Thomas responds to Jan. 6 panel, hearings stretch to July
WASHINGTON — The House’s Jan. 6 committee plans to continue its public hearings into July as its investigation of the Capitol riot deepens. The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, told reporters Wednesday that the committee is receiving “a lot of information” — including new documentary film footage of Donald Trump’s final...
Man found not responsible for Times Square vehicle rampage
NEW YORK — A man who drove his car through crowds of people in Times Square in 2017, killing a young tourist and maiming helpless pedestrians, was cleared of responsibility Wednesday because of mental illness. A jury in New York City accepted an insanity defense claiming Richard Rojas was so...
Mark Cuban’s pharmacy could have saved Medicare $3.6 billion, researchers find
Medicare could have saved $3.6 billion in a single year if it had bought generic drugs from Mark Cuban’s online pharmacy, according to a Harvard University report. In the report published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers from Brigham’s and Women’s Hospital with the Harvard Medical School made...
Sen. Kevin Cramer injures hand, may face finger amputation
WASHINGTON — Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota announced Wednesday that he suffered a serious injury to his right hand and is potentially facing amputation of a finger. The Republican lawmaker said he was working in his yard over the weekend when he sustained the injury that required immediate surgery....
Biden calls for 3-month suspension of gas, diesel taxes
President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Congress to suspend federal gasoline and diesel taxes for three months — an election-year move meant to ease financial pressures that was greeted with doubts by many lawmakers. The Democratic president also called on states to suspend their own gas taxes or provide...
Crowds flock to Yellowstone as park reopens after floods
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Throngs of tourists gleefully watched the legendary Old Faithful geyser shoot towering bursts of steaming water while others got stuck in “bison jams” on picturesque valley roads as visitors returned Wednesday for the partial reopening of Yellowstone National Park after destructive floods. Park managers raised the...
‘Heightened alert’: Abortion providers brace for ruling
In her first week on the job at a Philadelphia abortion clinic, Amanda Kifferly was taught how to search for bombs. About a year later, protesters blocked the entrances and exits of the The Women’s Centers, at one point pulling Kifferly into something resembling a mosh pit, where they surrounded...
U.K. plans to rewrite human rights law; critics cry foul
LONDON — The British government on Wednesday unveiled plans for a Bill of Rights it says will strengthen free speech and the power of Parliament — but that critics argue will rip up human rights protections for ordinary people. The government published the bill days after courts in the U.K....
Kuwait’s crown prince dissolves parliament, calls elections
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait’s crown prince on Wednesday dissolved Parliament and called for early elections, a move to ease government gridlock that has bred popular opposition and paralyzed the tiny country for months. In his televised national address, the 81-year-old Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmed Al Jaber said that...
China says Ukraine crisis has sounded alarm for humanity
BEIJING — The conflict in Ukraine has “sounded an alarm for humanity,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Wednesday, as China continues to assume a position of neutrality while backing its ally Russia. China has refused to criticize Russia’s war in Ukraine or even to refer to it as an invasion...
Israel lawmakers take 1st step toward dissolving parliament
JERUSALEM — Israeli lawmakers voted in favor of dissolving parliament in a preliminary vote on Wednesday, setting the wheels in motion to send the country to its fifth national election in just over three years. The development was the first step in a series of votes before the formal dissolution...
Afghanistan quake kills 1,000 people, deadliest in decades
KABUL, Afghanistan — A powerful earthquake struck a rugged, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring 1,500 more in the country’s deadliest quake in two decades, the state-run news agency reported. Officials warned that the already grim toll may still rise. In the...
Election 2022: Britt beats Brooks in Alabama Senate runoff
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Katie Britt has won the Republican nomination for Senate in Alabama, defeating six-term Congressman Mo Brooks in a primary runoff after former President Donald Trump took the unusual step of rescinding his endorsement. The loss ends a turbulent campaign for Brooks, a conservative firebrand who had fully...
Civil jury finds Bill Cosby sexually abused teenager in 1975
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Jurors at a civil trial found Tuesday that Bill Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975. The Los Angeles County jury delivered the verdict in favor of Judy Huth, who is now 64, and awarded her $500,000. Jurors found that Cosby...
Senators reach bipartisan compromise on gun violence bill
WASHINGTON — Senate bargainers reached agreement Tuesday on a bipartisan gun violence bill, potentially teeing up final passage by week’s end on an incremental but landmark package that would stand as Congress’ response to mass shootings in Texas and New York that shook the nation. Lawmakers released the 80-page bill...
Wall Street ends broadly higher after sharp losses last week
NEW YORK — Stocks finished broadly higher on Wall Street Tuesday, clawing back some of the ground they lost in their worst weekly drop since the beginning of the pandemic. The rally to start the holiday-shortened week came as investors look ahead to what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will...
